such is the state of affair...or faith in our famous middle order that many of us are silently praying that we save this match...
where drawing this match will be seen as victory...
as i am wring this last 10 overs have produced staggering run rate of 1.7...
against combined might of clarke and white...
when two of best batsmen of this era are at crease...
one would have thought that after inspirational and challenging declaration from punter we will see equally aggressive cricket...
but no...
we have already settled for a draw...like this was the only option left to us...
as if winning matches is left to only sehwag...
once he is out...we shut the door on win...as an accepted reality...
that after one half of world is yelling from roof top that our famous four are still the best in business...there are not alternative of this bunch of talent...etc etc...
what benefit of the talent...which has collective experience of over 50 years...more than 100 international centuries...which shuts the door on win completely once an opener gets out cheaply...
some faith on ability and skill...
against a team who has watson playing as specialist test bowler...white as specialist spinner...and clarke as 'world class spinner'...
some cricket...from a team who is looking to be no. 2 in world (if not no.1)
where one team has risked loosing a match to see if they can force a win...
and another has risked winning in saving a match...
so lets join our hand in praising...applauding our team which is fighting for a draw...
there is no alternative...
do we deserve this...only...?
shared by straight point on Monday, October 13, 2008
suitably sleeping...?
shared by straight point on Monday, August 11, 2008
regulars of this blog knows that i have never been stats guy...it pains me to look for it...
i always goes by my instincts like how player look and feel while playing...his ways of getting out...confidence or lack of it...and how assured i feel knowing he is coming out after a fall of wicket...
but of late i have been hearing from so many (followers) who have termed that its only THIS series which is going bad...they are making us believe that the fall in form is sudden...and temporary...so i against my nature decided to take plunge...
last 20 innings i looked for...or since Ist test of oz series...and here is what i got...
Mat inns nos runs hs avg (drift)
Rahul Dravid
unfiltered 125 216 26 10246 270 53.92
filtered 10 19 2 563 111 33.11 (-20)
Saurav Ganguly
unfiltered 109 180 15 6888 239 41.74
filtered 10 19 1 542 87 30.11 (-11)
VVS Laxman
unfiltered 96 158 21 6000 281 43.79
filtered 10 18 1 708 109 41.64 (-2)
Sachin
unfiltered 150 244 25 11877 248* 54.23
filtered 8 15 1 588 154* 42.00 (-12)
only vvs has more or less the same avg as his over all career...
i wanted to put stats of other two (sehwag and gambirs) but i dropped the idea coz figures were embarrassing to compare...
if you further break it series per series basis...i.e. starting from Oz series to SA to SL series or breaking it from last 20 innings to last 15 to last 10 to even last 5 innings...
whichever way you wanna look at it...i am sure that...the decline will appear more continuously downwards...almost like a pattern...indicating that the fall in form is not temporary...or sudden...as we are being made to believe...
its one thing to worship GODs and its another to follow blindly...
the blogger is and will remain one of better fan of all our GODs...but one thing which needs to be crystal clear here is that criticism never ever amounts to dis-respect...
i rest my case here.
Vir-Gati...?
shared by straight point on Friday, August 08, 2008
india, your tail starts from no.3...form is temporary class is permanent...
they cant go on to fail for long...they are due...
how can you disregard the services they rendered relentlessly...
this is not the way to treat our heroes...
and so on...
you will or have already heard enough of this bullshit wisdom...
if this is not called denial...i would like to be enlightened...
here and now...
India Win and 'Tabooed' Transition...
shared by straight point on Monday, August 04, 2008
Congratulation India!!
...for you have mastered the art of coming from behind...so much so that it has become a design...
opposition team have not caught up with this yet...but i am sure they will know in time that while winning is not bad thing...but on their way to victory they must ensure that margin of victory should not be humiliating or else you know what happens next...
we never play cricket better when we are favorites...if you are still in doubt you can see countless examples of how we win one outstandingly only to loose another outstandingly too...
you should win like there was an outside chance of india victory too...by this way we will remain at our same 'level of intensity' and lo...you have formula of how to win series against india...
but before you start to come to feel that this post is about how to win against india...let me warn you that this is not about it...
this is about next couple of series...this is about our phasing out of fat-fours...
this is about when india will make the transition...
how i was waiting for this victory to write this post...coz had it not happened...this post would have lost its purpose...its meaning...for it would have been outrightly discarded and dusted as another rant...
so here it goes...
is india sitting on a time-bomb waiting to explode...?
we all know how once australia faced this time bomb when it suddenly exploded on them and its repercussions...they could over come it coz they had willing administers to fight it out and excellent system...to fall back on...
india too is slowly but surely approaching to a stage when same will happen to us also...
its not that our youngsters are not performing...or our cupboard is bare...
badrinaths...rohits...tiwaries to name a few are waiting in the wings and wondering when their time will come
win at j'berg came from our bowlers mainly...sree santh's effort with ball and that six of nell is still fresh in memory so is vrv's effort with the bat...
DK was one of highest scorer for india against england...only century came from kumble...with dhoni gusting out at lords to safe guard us from definite defeat...
we won at perth and pathan first with bat then with ball contributed as much...
gambhir seems to be on mission...and the way he has stood against the might of M&M is heartening...so our youngsters too have been contributing...
not to forget one and only sehwag since his re-birth of late...he has been at his smashing best...
it looks like india plays on two strips at the same time...one on which sehwag plays and one on which rest...
now before you jump on me saying that sehwag is no way youngster now...you are missing the point...its about our fab fours...and their contributions...and how long we are ready to go with them...
'the wall' is not what it used to be...
consistent injuries is keeping sachin to be at his best consistently...
vvs looks so bemused by his dismissals that it has become his permanent expression...
and in all this ganguly has been...well...ganguly...chipping in here and there to keep himself floating...
but how long...
when your best is not best to either save or win a match then my question is how long should or can india keep on affording your 'best'...
irrespective of we win...loose or draw this series...our combination is going to be same...
yes i am saying this despite me predicting before...that this series will make at least one spot available in middle order...but i know also that our selectors wont dare that as yet...coz our next assignment is gonna be aussies...
so when we will sit and ponder on the taboo word 'transition'...
macgrath and warne bid adieu when they were playing at thier best and winning...IPL too showcased that they are still the best...but if they were from subcontinent...i bet they would have been still playing...
there is something in our water that things works differently here...
that RD and SG (and even VVS?) are still harboring the thoughts of returning to ODI fold is the best exemplified fact to gauge the psyche...
so selectors will have to take call on their own...they wont be eased...they wont be assisted...to take decisions on their careers...
as for me...
england is scheduled to visit india after oz and i seriously believe irrespective of oz series results...though win will be even more perfect... that series will be the best time when we can introduce one (if not two) middle order bat...
will we take the decision...or wait till it explode...?
the time is ticking...
fab-four to fat-four ?
shared by straight point on Friday, August 01, 2008
to re-phrase kumble...
only one player was playing cricket...
and this is not the first time this has happend...as if its india's official strategy to leave scoring to sehwag only...
and what can be said to our pedigreed fab-four turned fat-fours ?
their's were soft dismissals will be putting it mildly...for the third successive time...
only vvs out of fat-four has shown some inclination to fight it out in middle...but thats that...
no words on sachin. *puts finger on lips*
dravid and ganguly are like competing on live reality show of who will go first...from indian team i.e.
and what the hell kumble was thinking when he sent dravid at no. 3 for all his diffidence...is it rocket science that your best batsmen (who is scoring i.e.) should go there at one down?
its high time he start evaluating players not from his memory but on current performances...mere being goodie wont do...ask dravid he is live example of that infront of you...
take some decision maan...that's what captains are for...
if you forget about big names...i would like to see what worse rohit will do under these conditions...specially when india's next assignment is gonna be oz...
any takers?
Mendis and that...
shared by straight point on Monday, July 21, 2008
will Fab-four be tamed?i have not sensed this type of buzz since the debut of sachin...for an individual player...
i wanted to title ind-sl series preview or something sort of that...but read everywhere...the series is already billed as our batsmen vs mendis...
so allow me also wash my hand of mendis bandwagon...
every where you read they are proclaiming how our batsmen will be under pressure of this cricket's latest mysterious threat...
agreed.
but they are forgetting to realize that mendis will be under more pressure...
all eyes will be on him...time will freeze as and when jayawardene will decide to toss bowl to him...
he has his suddenly acquired fame to defend...
everybody will be expecting wickets and only wickets of his alternate bowl...
for a young guy it will be the test of character...
what if wickets come in bundle? what if wickets wont come?
will he succumb to the pressure of expectations...or will we see a birth of new champion...?
lots of questions...the answer is about to unfold in couple of days...
my sole fear is that media will not spare him in either situation...
i just hope and pray that when the mystery of unknown unfolds... cricket will be winner...
